CONFERENCE PICTURES

The Heritage, Weathering and Conservation (HWC-2006) Conference is intended to be a Scientific Meeting that brings together two Heritage related Networks: the Spanish Thematic Network of the Spanish Council for Scientific Research for the Cultural and Historic Heritage (CSIC-RTPHC), organizing institution of the event through the Institute of Economic Geology (CSIC-UCM), and an international network, the Stone Weathering and Atmospheric Pollution Network (SWAPNET).

The Spanish network RTPHC comprises scientific teams from several disciplines (both Humanities and Science & Technology), which belongs to approximately 20 Centres of the Spanish Council for Scientific Research. It was established in 2001 and has already organised 6 scientific meetings. Its main objective is to promote interdisciplinary scientific collaboration for the Conservation of Cultural and Historic Heritage.

SWAPNET is an informal association of academics, conservators and others interested in the processes and forms of stone weathering and the application of scientific methods to the conservation and preservation of natural building materials. It was established in the 1980's by a group of U.K. academics with shared interests in urban stone decay and a largely geomorphological background. Since then, it has broadened its scope to include other disciplines involved in various aspects of urban stone decay and as an informal group, aims to facilitate interdisciplinary links, the exchange of information and ideas and to provide means of avoiding duplication of research effort in stone decay studies. Since 1990 SWAPNET has supported a series of yearly scientific meetings across Europe.

Conservation of Cultural Heritage is a commitment of all countries around the world. Researchers contribute to Heritage Conservations from different disciplines. The Organizing Committee invites all the professionals participating in this Conference to transmit their experiences and knowledge through interdisciplinary networking, increasing awareness in the scientific community, companies and society.

OBJECTIVES

The main objectives pursued with HWC 2006 can be summarized in two aspects:

•  To gather all the proffessionals working in the field of Heritage Conservation (architects, geologists, chemists, geographers, restorers, historicians, phisycists, biologists, engineers, etc), to obtain a multi-disciplinary approach to the conservation of heritage.

•  To facilitate and promote inter-disciplinary Networks across the field.